Downtown Salem Gets Lots of Foot Traffic; Its Cops Want to Fence It In
Last month, the Salem Police Department announced a controversial new plan to manage the dense crowds of pedestrians that visit the Witch City every autumn. Police are proposing to erect two temporary fences across a major downtown crosswalk, effectively turning two busy sidewalks into enclosed corrals.
June 5, 2024
Increased State Funding Yields New Bus Routes Across the Commonwealth
Expanded state funding for regional transit authorities (RTAs) will finance several inter-regional bus routes later this year thanks to expanded funding from the Fair Share Amendment.
May 29, 2024
Critics Say MassDOT’s New ‘Beyond Mobility’ Plan Is Missing Accountability
A new long-range plan for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) acknowledges that the agency has serious problems with safety, traffic congestion, limited access to public transit, and pollution from its roadways.
May 27, 2024
Electric Backslide: Massachusetts On Track to Miss Its EV Goals By A Wide Margin
As of January 2024, there were only 66,000 zero-emission cars registered in Massachusetts, even though the state's climate roadmap relies on Bay State drivers buying 200,000 by 2025.
May 14, 2024
MBTA Is Finally Showing Progress on Bus Operator Hiring
For the first time in years, the MBTA is growing its depleted workforce of bus operators, thanks to a more generous labor contract and expanded training programs.
May 13, 2024
Mass. Senate Proposes Fare-Free Buses for Regional Transit Authorities Statewide (But Not the T)
The budget-writing committee of the Massachusetts Senate published its 2025 spending recommendations this week, with a notable increase in funding for the state's Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs).
May 10, 2024
Eyes On the Street: Less Pavement, More Park On Hammond Pond Parkway
Earlier this week, StreetsblogMASS reader Aaron Lu shared some photos of the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Hammond Pond Parkway road diet, which is converting a a four-lane highway without any sidewalks into a calmer two-lane street with a separated 12-foot-wide shared-use path and additional greenery in lieu of asphalt.
May 8, 2024
Transit and Bike Riders Will Get More Space On Back Bay Streets This Year
Last week, Boston transportation planners hosted a virtual meeting to discuss their plans to add more bike lanes and bus lanes to various streets in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, which is currently a significant bottleneck for frequent-service MBTA bus routes and a major gap in the city's growing network of protected bike lanes.
May 6, 2024
Huntington Ave. Redesign Will Eliminate Last Mixed-Traffic Segment of the Green Line By 2027
On Tuesday evening, officials from the City of Boston and the MBTA officially kicked off a planning effort that will ultimately redesign Huntington and South Huntington Avenues in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood.
May 2, 2024
ValleyBike Bikeshare Will Return This Month After Year-Long Hiatus
ValleyBike, the regional bikesharing system that spans from the UMass Amherst campus to the City of Springfield, will reopen for business under a new operator before the end of May, according to officials from the City of Northampton.
May 2, 2024
